130 - An unusually-shaped t-handle walking stick/cane. The handle is made from black buffalo horn decorated with mother-of-pearl, and the shank is hand-turned sapele or similar wood.

The resulting shape worked well, but looked rather cumbersome; so I whittled down both ends of the handle, dividing each end into two "branches". This retained the functionality of the overall shape but reduced the visual impact somewhat.

I now had to apply pleasing finishing touches to four ends instead of two! For this, I cut circular discs from some pieces of mother-of-pearl that I had to hand. These were originally part of an ornate Victorian lamp shade which the grandfather of a fellow stickmaker had dismantled way back, maybe with the intention of rebuilding it. Whatever, all that was left of it now was a tobacco tin full of nicely-figured pieces of mother-of-pearl, and they deserved to be put to good use. I set the discs in brass-filled epoxy resin to add a bit of warmth to the colours.

I made the shank from a piece of reclaimed sapele or similar wood, turning it by hand with the aid of my new Ashem Crafts rounding and tapering planes. I deepened the colour somewhat with wood stain to meet the customer's requirements. The handle is mounted on a base/spacer of laburnum wood and longhorn cattle horn.